SEND & Equality

Children with special needs

Providing for pupils with Special Educational Needs (SEND) is just one way in which St Joseph’s Primary School promotes and supports inclusion. We value each child as a unique being created in God’s own likeness, each with his/her own gifts and talents. “Special Needs” covers a wide area including academic, social and pastoral needs and a child may be identified as having special needs for a very short length of time, for a very specific area or for a long period of time. Children with a statement of special need/education and healthcare plan or funded support that names the school must be admitted in accordance with the school admissions policy.

The SEN Code of Practice 2015 covers the age range 0-25 range and is fully implemented in our school. It states, ‘Special educational provision is educational or training provision that is additional to or different from that made generally for others of the same age. This means provision that goes beyond the differentiated approaches and learning arrangements normally provided as part of high quality, personalised teaching.’

The school and local offer and procedures for children with special needs are published on our website.

Teachers have the primary responsibility in meeting the needs of ALL children in their care. They provide a high quality, differentiated curriculum but receive appropriate training so that they can meet the needs of all children in their care. SEN provision is co-ordinated by the SENCO (Special Education Coordinator) who is qualified to guide the school in provision and training. The SENCO maintains a SEN register and provision map for the school.

Identification

All children with SEN are identified and assessed as early as possible. If you think your child has specific needs, please contact us as early as possible so we can begin this process or liaise with their pre-school setting and any professionals who may already be working with your child. Equally, if we have concerns that your child has additional needs, we will contact you and discuss this as part of our universal offer under the 2014 Code of Practice.

Special educational needs provision can be considered to fall into four broad areas of need:

• Communication and integration
• Cognition and learning
• Social, mental and emotional
• Sensory and/or physical.

Identification of SEN is an integral part of the school’s on-going monitoring, assessment, recording and reporting process. All children are exposed to a high quality, differentiated curriculum and where the children fail to make expected age-related progress, additional interventions are put in place (See the provision map). Parents will be notified as soon as these additional needs are recognised. This additional support is directed and managed by SMT and SENCO. In school, staff have personal areas of expertise to support individual needs e.g. a dyslexia teacher, a Teaching Assistant with Speech and Language training etc.

The majority of children will have their needs met within school and with support, will achieve their potential. Children who have social, emotional or physical problems will also have a variety of specific interventions to support their progress in school. A child receiving specific additional support will be included on the SEN register following discussion with parents: this is called School Support. Where a child continues to make little or no progress, despite appropriate, time-limited and assessed interventions, the expertise of an external specialist will be sought. Sometimes, if a child’s needs are severe and/or complex, an EHC plan (Education and Healthcare Plan) may be sought.

Present Register

We currently have 16 children on the register and seven have Education & Health Care Plans (EHCPs)

Access and equality

St Joseph’s has a disability, access and equality plan to improve access and assess future needs. Disabled pupils are treated equally with non-disabled pupils with regard to school admission. The school currently has wheelchair access via ramps to the main entrance, side entrance and to the rear of the school, and a wooden ramp to the school hall. A Disabled toilet facility was installed in 2011. There is also a disabled parking space close to the school buildings. Current targets of the Disability Equality scheme and Accessibility Plan can be found on our website.

Equality of opportunity

St Joseph’s is an equal opportunities school and we operate in line with our Equality policy (see website).

St Joseph’s is an inclusive school guided by our ‘Mission Statement’ promoting inclusive education in its widest sense in all areas of school life.